Lo Còr de la Plana, France

Lo Còr de la Plana is a male ensemble from the quarter of La Plaine in Marseille, devotes itself to the Provence Occitan repertory. To date, the five members of Lo Còr have worked on the popular religious repertory of Damase Arbaud and the Christmas chants of Notre-Dame des Doms, as well as on many songs for dancing (rigadoons, bourrées, rondos), including in their compositions and arrangements many elements from the culture of Marseille today (ragamuffin, techno-groove...) Interpreted in unision or in polyphony, accompanied by bender drums or bodily percussion (picaments with the feet and bataments with the hands), screamed or whispered, the chants of the Cňr are in the image of the quarter they come from: violent but not cruel, sweet but not mawkish, hard, but not too much.

ZOE’, Italy
songs and dances of Salento

Zoe was born in the spring of 1993 out of a group of musicians from Salento (a region in the deep south-east of Italy) with a common need to rediscover the traditional popular music of their own country. The music of Salento is the result of centuries of different foreign domination, but more importantly, of exchanges with other Mediterranean cultures.
Zoe’s repertoire includes working songs, love songs in local dialect and in Salentian Greek, protest songs, and especially the ‘Pizzica’ (sting): from the heart and the dances of tarantism. This last rhythm is exciting, tormenting, inebriating, exhilarating, and deeply moving all at once. It is the sum of the rhythms of the heart and breath, the beat of the Earth. It is impossible to remain indifferent, because the persistent crescendo of the tambourine "beats" goes straight to the heart. If the young black people from the urban ghettos narrate, with the help of rap, the poverty and the rage, the Salentinians, from time immemorial, express their feelings and passions by beating the tambourine and by dancing the "pizzica", until they fall into a trance. It's purpose is not only expressive, but also communicative. It's a courting dance.
For this reason, beyond any interpretation, it is enough to listen to the music, to abandon oneself to its movement, to come up against this force, this uncommon musical energy.

Companyia Electrica Dharma, Catalonia-Spain

The band's main objective is to create music that ascribes to the Mediterranean mentality and sensibility.
C.E.D. was started by the Fortuny brothers in 1974. Nowadays it is the most legendary group in Catalonia. The founders, Esteve, Joan and Josep, successfully introduced into the Iberian rock scene the melodies and sounds born from the Mediterranean and Catalan folklore. The band combines, in its own special way, typical rock instruments (drums, bass, electric guitar and synths) with a soprano sax that sounds very similar to the Catalan "tenora".
The group’s career is marked by 17 CDs to its credit. After 25 years in the profession, this unique, eclectic band has maintained the same spirit that characterises its origins.
Traditional music has always had a nomadic spirit. And a good way to travel with that spirit is experincing Companyia Electrica Dharma alive.

Lot Lorien, Bulgaria

“Lot Lorien” is a Bulgarian professional fantasy-art-ethno band. If one is to describe the music style, it would be named “world fusion”, based on Bulgarian folklore, folklore of other nations, fantasy, progressive rock, pop, jazz, new age , etc. Impressive for the group is also non standard combination of instruments: electro-acoustic guitar, bass, violin, female vocal, drums, percussions, glockenspiel, tapan, djembe, darbouka and more.
Some of their songs may very much remind us of fairytales- soothing and mystical, taking us on the journey through picturesque Bulgarian landscape.

Mojmir Novakovic i KRIES, Croatia

In his constant pursuit of all that is unpredictable in the cultural tradition, Mojmir Novakovic, frontman of the legendary Croatian ethno group Legen, got together a new group of musicians. Their name is Kries.
Kries means bonfire in ancient Croatian. In many cultures people used to light bonfires to get together, sing and dance and to celebrate life.
Music is like a bonfire. It is a light and a colour in the darkness, the unpredictable adventure, a play…attractive and uniting. The intention of Kries is to revive little asleep flames of the ancient songs, the sounds of the forgotten music instruments and make them a part of the present thus starting a new adventure. This new adventure is nothing more then a part of the ancient human’s need for a “sacred” play.

Klapa Solin, Croatia

Famous Dalmatian a capella singing performed by klapa Solin. A capella singing is a tradition at the Adriatic. People used to get together on the streets or in tavernas and sing together even if they never met before. As these singers say: “This way of singing envokes memories on our ancestors, old beliefs and traditions and we feel obligated to preserve it and pass onto our children.” Klapa Solin got together in 2000 and have won many awards and hearts of those who enjoy Dalmatian songs.